The Global Summit of Women is an annual forum which brings together women leaders in business, government, and civil society to share best practices and working strategies that advance women's economic status globally. Founded in 1990, the Global Summit of Women was conceived as the nexus at which all sectors – public, private and nonprofit – would come together under the common vision of dramatically expanding women's economic opportunities globally through exchanges of working solutions and creative strategies forged by women leaders in different parts of the world.
This global gathering is convened by the non-profit organization, GlobeWomen Research and Education Institute, headquartered in Washington D.C. Irene Natividad serves as the President and is advised by an International Planning Committee.[1]
History
Now in its third decade, the Global Summit of Women was first launched in Montreal, Canada with the goal to make it truly accessible to women worldwide. To that end, the Summit rotates by continent, hosted by different countries where both the government and the business communities are actively involved. Also distinct in a business/economic forum for women is the participation of numerous Heads of State, Prime Ministers, Vice Presidents and other government officials at the Summit over the years. Over the three-decade history of the Global Summit of Women, participants have included numerous sitting Presidents including South African President Nelson Mandela (2000),[2] Mary Robinson of Ireland (1992), Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia (2007), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines (2000), Michelle Bachelet of Chile (2009), Atifete Jahjaga of Kosovo (2013) and Tarja Halonen of Finland (2010), President of Mexico Vicente Fox (2005), Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe (2017), Korea's President Lee Myung Bak, then Mayor in 2004, and Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls (2014), among others.
Program Additions: As the Summit has grown over the years, program components have been added to this annual global forum in response to requests or ideas presented by its constituency. These are listed below.
Ministerial Roundtable on Women's Economic Development: In response to Ministers’ request for their own forum, a Ministerial Roundtable became a pre-Summit program beginning with the 2000 Summit hosted by South Africa. Ministers of varied portfolios now participate in exchanges of what works in advancing women or girls. Reflective of its economic focus, the Summit requests Ministers to share any policies or programs involving public/private sector partnerships that open up women's opportunities, which may be replicable in other countries. Thirty to forty Ministers typically attend, and the best program (selected by a group of former Ministers) is awarded with a mini-grant from the Summit towards the specific project cited.
Youth Forum: Advancing Entrepreneurship: Given the wealth of women's leadership at each Summit, the Host Committee at the 2007 Summit in Germany requested that a session targeted towards the inclusion of young participants be included at each of these global gatherings. Since then, a Youth Forum became a permanent part of each Summit with a special emphasis on showcasing young women entrepreneurs who have successfully launched viable businesses. Over 200 students from local universities in each Host Country are invited to attend for free at these forums to expose them to entrepreneurship as a possible career choice along with the traditional business disciplines. In addition, 20 top women business students are selected from area universities to attend the Summit for free, so as to learn from women business leaders from around the world they would not find otherwise in textbooks.
Global Women's Leadership Awards: Since 2004, the Summit launched the Global Women's Leadership Award to salute women and men for lifetime achievements in increasing women's economic empowerment on a national and global level. A sampling of Award recipients, who accepted their awards at the Summit, include: Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Prize-winning Founder of the Grameen Bank (2019); Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (2017);[3] Joyce Banda, President of Malawi (2017); Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN WOMEN (2015); Viviane Reding, Vice President, European Commission (2014); Roza Otunbayeva, former President of Kyrgyzstan (2012); Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General (2012); Luisa Diogo, Prime Minister of Mozambique (2008); Ela Bhatt, Founder of SEWA (2005); and Gertrude Mongella, President of the Pan-African Parliament (2004).
Past Summits
During its three decades, the Summit has grown in its reach and participation. Beginning initially as a biennial gathering, the Global Summit of Women was urged to become an annual event by its own participants. Averaging 1,000 participants from 60-70 countries in the past decade, the Summit has been held in the following countries with the themes as indicated:
2020: “Women Revolutionizing Economies – Bangkok, Thailand 2019: “Women: Redefining Success” – Basel, Switzerland 2018: “Women: Creating Economies of Shared Value” – Sydney, Australia 2017: “Beyond Womenomics: Accelerating Access” – Tokyo, Japan 2016: “Women: Building an Inclusive Economy in the Digital Age” – Warsaw, Poland 2015: “Creative Women – Creative Economies” – São Paulo, Brazil 2014: “Women: Redesigning Economies, Societies” – Paris, France 2013: “Women: Creating New Economies” – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2012: "Women: The Engine of Economic Growth" – Athens, Greece 2011: "Women Bridging Solutions to the 21st Century" – Istanbul, Turkey 2010: "Women at the Forefront of Change" – Beijing, China 2009: "Setting New Paradigms for Business and Political Leadership" – Santiago, Chile 2008: “Women and Asia: Driving the Global Economy” – Hanoi, Vietnam 2007: "The Global Marketplace: Opportunities and Challenges" – Berlin, Germany 2006: “Redefining Global Leadership” – Cairo, Egypt 2005: “Leading the 21st Century Economy” – Mexico City, Mexico 2004: “Leadership, Technology, Growth” – Seoul, South Korea 2003: “Preventing Conflict Through Women's Economic Development” – Marrakech, Morocco 2002: “Pivotal Issues Impacting Women's Economic Development” – Barcelona, Spain 2001: – Hong Kong S.A.R., China 2000: “Expanding Women's Economic Literacy” – Johannesburg, South Africa 1999: “Women's Economic Summit of the Americas” – Buenos Aires, Argentina 1998: “Women & The Global Market” – London, United Kingdom 1997: “Women's Economic Empowerment” – Miami, U.S.A. 1994: “Women's Leadership in Politics” – Chinese Taipei 1992: “New Vision of Leadership” – Dublin, Ireland 1990: – Montreal, Canada
Summit highlights
The 1992 Summit hosted by Ireland would have been the first time that three women Heads of State would be present at this global forum. President Mary Robinson, Chair of Dublin Summit, had invited Iceland's President Vigdis Finnbogadottir and Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. All three agreed to come but only two managed to do so as Prime Minister Bhutto could not attend given internal tensions in her country at the time. Nonetheless, it was the only time that the 30-year-old Summit had two women leading countries in attendance.[4]
The 2001 Summit in Hong Kong took place on September 13, 2001, just after the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. Many Summit delegates were en route to Hong Kong at the time when planes were grounded. Despite the tragic events, 500 delegates from 50 different countries made it to the forum. South Africa alone with 71 delegates, including 7 women government ministers, was the largest delegation.[5]
The 2003 Summit hosted by Morocco was the first global meeting of women leaders in the Arab world,[6] and it also took place following a tragedy, the first-ever terrorist bombing in Casablanca six weeks earlier. While other international conferences canceled consequently, the Summit held firm and supported Morocco by sticking to its original dates for this gathering. The 2003 Summit convened 40 women cabinet ministers in a roundtable on economic development for women in the Arab state.
In 2012, during a period of great economic uncertainty in Greece, the Global Summit of Women convened in Athens to provide support. The Summit in Athens focused on the role of Greek women leaders as the key to economic recovery. When asked why she chose Greece to host the Summit, Summit President Irene Natividad was quoted as saying “I believe we should be close to the place where someone may need us. Greek women will have the chance to show another image of Greece – a more positive one – abroad.”[7]
The Global Summit of Women held its 25th Anniversary Summit in São Paulo, Brazil in 2015 with over 1200 participants from 63 countries. (cite: [8]”) The 2015 Summit presented the fundamental role of women in the global market and innovation they bring to the twenty-first century economy. During the three days, the event had the participation of leading government authorities, such as the Finance Minister Joaquim Levy and dozens of CEOS.
The 2017 Global Summit of Women hosted by Japan in Tokyo was marked by having the largest participation to date of any Summit with 1,640 participants. Intended to support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to improve Japanese women's economic status with his emphasis on ‘womenomics’, the Summit opened by recognizing his initiatives by awarding the Prime Minister with the Global Women's Leadership Award.[9] The Summit opened by organizing the first-ever opening of the Tokyo Stock Exchange by women business leaders.
Initiatives
In the course of its global exchanges, the Global Summit of Women generated additional programs that advanced the dialogue on women's economic leadership through research and more intimate programs for specific groups.
Corporate Women Directors International: To provide baseline data on and to convene women corporate directors in different parts of the world, Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI) was launched in 1996. At the time, data on women directors was only available in the U.S. and U.K., but not in other countries. CWDI's initial reports were the first-ever reports on women directors in Canada, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Spain and has since then expanded to cover women's progress in accessing board seats in different regions and industries resulting in 29 reports in 24 years.[10] Its intent was to spur such tracking by countries themselves or other research entities.
CWDI has also gathered women directors and executives on issues of corporate governance. It pioneered Market Opens with women business leaders beginning with NASDAQ in 2006 to spotlight women's contributions to each nation's economy.[11] At these ring-the-bell ceremonies, women business leaders were convened in separate programs to discuss ways to move more women into the corporate board room. So far, there have been 20 Market Opens at Stock Exchanges around the world: NASDAQ (2006) in New York, the Toronto Stock Exchange (2008), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (2009), Madrid (2011), Istanbul (2011), Barcelona (2012), Warsaw (2012 and 2016), São Paulo (2012), Hong Kong (2012), Zurich (2013), Kuala Lumpur (2013), the Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt (2013), the Euronext Paris Exchange (2014), ASX in Sydney (2014), Manila (2015), Mexico City (2016 and 2018), Ho Chi Minh City (2017), Bangkok (2017), and Bogota, Colombia (2018).
Colloquium on Global Diversity: Intended for senior executives charged with implementing gender diversity programs in major companies globally, the Colloquium on Global Diversity since 2005 has provided a platform for exchanges of best practices in an invitation-only Roundtable focusing on what works in “Creating a Level Playing Field for Women.” Held annually in New York or Washington, D.C., current research and innovative strategies from different companies are presented within a global context. Participating companies have included Daimler (Germany), Reckitt Benckiser (U.K.), Engie, Sodexo, Capgemini (France), Pepsico Mexico, along with major U.S. companies such as General Motors, IBM, Mastercard, McDonalds, MetLife, to name a few.[12]
Legacies of Women Forums: Since 2007, the Summit has held Legacies of Women Forums at prestigious academic institutions globally. At each Forum, women CEOs and senior executives are presented to a university audience to share their expertise with business students leaving a legacy for future generations of women. Universities which have partnered with the Summit include ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, IE Business School in Madrid, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia) in Kuala Lumpur, Koc University in Istanbul, and Showa University in Tokyo.[13]
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